The present invention relates, in general, to vehicle sun visors.
Sun visors are used in vehicles to provide front and side window protection from sunlight entry. Such sun visors are pivotal about a longitudinal axis between a stowed position adjacent the headliner and a deployed position angularly extending from the headliner. Most sun visors can also be unlocked from a headliner mounted clip or D-ring and pivoted to the side window about a support arm attached to the vehicle headliner. A biasing means is typically mounted within the visor to prevent movement and noise when the sun visor is in the stowed position.
Over the years, various enhancements or features have been added for sun visors to increase their versatility as well as to add other convenience factors to the vehicle occupants.
One such feature is the telescopic extension of the entire sun visor along the longitudinal axis of the support arm to enable the sun visor to be repositioned laterally across the windshield or the side window to block sun light entry in a particular direction for an occupant.
Another common feature is a mirror with or without a pivotal cover and with or without an illumination means which is mounted in one surface of the sun visor, typically the surface facing the headliner when the sun visor is in the stowed position. The sun visor need only be pivoted to the angular downward extending position to allow use of the mirror.
When an illumination means, such as lamps, are provided around the mirror, electrical conductors or wires extend through the A pillar of the vehicle body and the support arm to the individual lamps in the sun visor.
Various means have been provided to mount fabric or decorative covers over the plastic sun visor core. One such mount traps the ends of the fabric cover between the two clam shell core halves when the halves are moved to their closed, locked position. Another mount utilizes projections on the inner surfaces of the core halves over which the inner edges of the fabric cover are forced.
Heat stake projections have also been provided about the periphery of the core halves. In this mounting technique, the edges of the fabric cover are forced over the heat stake projections and then heat is applied to melt the stakes through the interstices of the fabric cover to fixedly retain the inner edges of the cover in a fixed position on the sun visor core.
The present invention is a sun visor having a unique series of mirror assemblies interchangeably mountable in an identical sun visor core for a simplified manufacturing process which lowers the overall cost of the sun visor.
In one aspect, the sun visor includes a core formed of first and second foldable halves. A recess is formed in one of the core halves opening outward from the core half when the first and second core halves are folded over and locked together. A member is mounted in the recess filling the recess in the core member.
In one aspect, the member is a filler having substantially the same thickness as the depths of the recess. A cover is attached over the cover and the filler.
In another aspect, a mirror assembly means is mountable in the recess. Optionally, the mirror assembly means may be mounted over the cover to interpose the cover between the mirror assembly means and the core half for reduced noise.
In one aspect of the invention, lock projections are carried on the mirror or a back plate on which the mirror is mounted. The projections extend through apertures formed in the core half defining the recess and engage complimentary lock receivers carried on the other core half when the core halves are folded over and joined together to attach the mirror to the core.
The mirror assembly means may including any of a mirror, a mirror mounted in a frame, an optional cover pivotally attached to the frame and moveable between first and second positions exposing and covering the mirror to and from view, as well as optional illumination means carried in the frame for illuminating the mirror.
The sun visor of the present invention provides a unique design which is capable of receiving many differently configured mirror assemblies. Regardless of the form of the mirror assembly, such as a mirror, a mirror mounted in a frame, a mirror mounted in a frame carrying a pivotal cover, or a mirror mounted in a frame carrying illumination means, and a mirror with or without a cover, the sun visor core is identically constructed and is capable of receiving any of the aforementioned mirror assembly packages. Further, a unique filler member may be mounted in the recess and in the core half and encompassed by the cover to provide a flush surface with the core half in the event that the sun visor does not include any mirror assembly.